Mansfield MP says 2021 will be 'the year of delivery'

He has had somewhat of a turbulent year – from Twitter rows with celebrities, Free School Meal votes and debates around Black Lives Matter raging on during a pandemic, the MP has certainly had a busy 12 months.

Mr Bradley said: “It’s been quite the year, hasn’t it?

"Things haven’t gone quite to plan thanks to coronavirus, but we’ve done some great things in terms of the Future High Streets and Towns Fund plans, which we’re hoping to hear about in the coming weeks.

"On a national scale we’ve been working towards Brexit, so there have been lots of negotiations and we’ll have a new start in 2021.

"Our biggest challenge has been our coronavirus response, which will continue well into next year.”

As Government plans the economy’s coronavirus recovery Mr Bradley hopes to see 2021 as ‘the year of delivery’ as plans come into fruition for the town.

"Next year should see some great steps forward – I hope we’re going to secure funding for projects to start early on in the year, such as assisting with empty retail units going through change of use to make them usable spaces,” he said.

"We’re looking to introduce student accommodation into the town centre for the new university courses at West Nottinghamshire College, which will help bring footfall into town.”

With all eyes on the government to produce a robust coronavirus recovery plan many are, of course, concerned about financial stability.

With many reeling from redundancies, Ben hopes that Mansfield will be in a fairly strong position for recovery going into 2021.

He continued: “The debt from Coronavirus is massive, and so we can’t just whack up taxes and expect to pay it off, that’s not realistic.

"People can’t afford it – so we need to invest and rebuild the economy.

"In Mansfield figures aren’t as bad as they could have been, or as bad as some other places.

"The large Amazon site was underway before the pandemic, which has helped us avoid a huge surge in unemployment when it opened.

"I’m going to make sure we are investing in infrastructure, skills and supporting job creation with the schemes we have in the pipeline.”

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